Vision Vancouver park commissioner Catherine Evans has introduced a notice of motion to get the ball rolling on replacing the term "Siwash Rock". It's been used for a very long time to describe the 15-to-18-metre boulder in the water off the Stanley Park seawall.

"The history of Stanley Park includes acts of dispossession and disrespect directed toward the Indigenous people who inhabited it," Evans wrote in the notice of motion. "An on-going symbol of disrespect is the name Siwash Rock, given to a rock situated along the western short of Stanley Park and identified as a Point of Interest on the Official Map and Guide..."

The park board unveiled her notice of motion less than a week after she participated in the city's Walk for Reconcilation on September 24.

The motion is scheduled to be heard at the Monday (October 2) park board meeting.

Park Commissioner Catherine Evans (centre) joined Coun. Heather Deal and former park candidate Naveen Girn at the Walk for Reconciliation.

The motion's preamble notes that the City of Vancouver is designated as a City of Reconciliation.

Evans will seek the board's approval to direct staff to "engage with the Stanley Park Intergovernmental Working Group to develop a process for re-naming Siwash Rock".

She pointed out that the park board "has the ability to initiate a change to this name".

The landmark has also been known as Nine Pin Rock because it looks like a bowling pin.

Its Squamish name is Slhx̱i7lsh.

Siwash is a word that's been used in the past to describe people of Indigenous heritage. It's considered offensive by some because its roots come from the French word for savage.

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Should the park board rename Siwash Rock as an act of reconciliation with local Indigenous peoples?

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